The nuclear site, occupied since March 2022 by Russia, has suffered a series of drone attacks since Sunday.
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Zaporizhzhia is once again causing concern. The recent attacks on the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in this city may “mark the beginning of a new and extremely dangerous war front”, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was alarmed on Thursday April 11. They “brought us into a crucial phase” of the conflict, declared Rafael Grossi at the opening of a meeting in Vienna of the 35 members of the Governing Council, convened urgently at the call of Russia and Ukraine.
The Zaporizhia site, occupied since March 2022 by Russia in southern Ukraine, has suffered a series of drone attacks since Sunday, with Moscow and kyiv blaming each other for responsibility. These were the “first since November 2022 to directly target the plant”, the largest in Europe, according to the UN body which has experts on site. “The strikes must stop,” attack a nuclear facility “is absolutely not an option”insisted Rafael Grossi, calling again for “maximum restraint”.
kyiv criticizes “a disinformation campaign” from Moscow
At the end of the meeting, Russian Ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov said “satisfied by the discussion”hoping that it will encourage Ukrainians “to stop these dangerous, almost daily actions”. Ukraine, for its part, castigated “a disinformation campaign” of Moscow, accused of simulating strikes to “discredit” kyiv, according to a press release from the permanent mission in Vienna.
Before the Council, the European Union considered that these developments “very worrying” came to remind “the risks posed by Russia’s illegal occupation” of the site. Moscow “must immediately, unconditionally and completely withdraw all its forces and military equipmentinsisted the EU. This is the only solution to minimize the risk of a nuclear accident.”. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Board of Governors has adopted four resolutions condemning Russia’s actions against Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.
